


A Simple Act of Filicide

by LizzardLady



Category: Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs
Genre: Blood is mentioned, Character Death, Filicide, Gen, Mentions of War, Minor Character Death, Murder, mandus kills his kids, rip edwin and enoch
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-29
Updated: 2020-07-29
Packaged: 2021-03-05 21:01:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 605
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25581778
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LizzardLady/pseuds/LizzardLady
Summary: The story in which Mandus kills his two children.
Relationships: Oswald Mandus & His Sons





	A Simple Act of Filicide

**Author's Note:**

> i dont know how to feel about this but i hope anyone that finds it enjoys

When Mandus touched the Orb, it was like handling fire, raw and reckless. It burned and stung and yet he didn’t flinch back, no, instead he leaned into it. How could he not, when it was wrapping itself around his mind, reaching invasive tendrils into his memories? It felt whimsical, and he couldn’t resist it. Thoughts blurred in his mind as he tried to make sense of it all, tried to grasp reality as the artifact seized him. Blank vision shifted, scenes and landscapes swirling around him. Guns firing, men screaming, children crying, the sound of terror and suffering. Where was he? None of it made sense, the world felt wrong, tainted. The Orb whispered to him, spinning new imagery, bombarding him with things he couldn’t understand.

Children’s voices, distant like an echo, calling for him. Not his name, but father. Mandus awoke from his haze disoriented, a flicker of panic sparking in him when he saw Enoch holding the Orb, scrutinizing it with curious eyes.

“A stone egg!” said Edwin, taking it from his brother. “It’s so shiny, will it hatch? Can we keep it?”

The boys looked up at him, showing no sign of having seen what he saw. Mandus reached for the Orb then thought better of it, “Yes, we can keep it.”

Edwin and Enoch giggled happily, shoving the precious relic back into their father’s hands before running further into the temple. Mandus almost followed them, but instead found himself trapped in place, his focus glued to the immaculately round Orb in his grip. It didn’t feel like holding flames this time, but rather like scalding water, seeping into his very core. It almost felt as if it was watching him, pinning him with invisible eyes. He shuddered, blinking hard when the icy hot tendrils pushed their way back into his head. Harsh and harsher, pushing and tugging and finally forming a realistic reality around him. Guns blazing, smoke, panic, two men in the crossfire. Mandus gasped at their features, wanting so badly to reach out to them, to pull them from the chaos. Twin brothers shot and killed, dissipating into vapor as the scene faded. He had cried out in a voice that was silenced, a wave of emotions crashing over him.

They were there before him, running and chasing each other in an act of play. Innocent souls yet to be tainted by society or war. Laughing and oblivious, beckoning for him to join them. How could he, when he saw them die? Their final cries as the life drained out of them, their souls going dark. Mandus felt a dark cloud settle over him, surrounding him, suffocating him. The Orb was a constant presence in his mind, replaying the gruesome deaths over and over again. He saw himself moving, reaching for Edwin and Enoch, saw himself gently discard the Orb as he gathered them to him. “Let’s play a game,” he heard himself say, saw himself guide them to the old temple steps, told them to stand still. Felt himself take the knife he carried with him, handle smooth in his palm.

Saw himself stab Edwin through the heart as Enoch screamed beside him. It wasn’t long before he, too, was silenced by the blade, blood spilled on the ancient stone. Mandus hugged them to himself, tears gathering in his dark eyes. “It is for the best,” he whispered to them, or perhaps to himself. A justification, a reassurance. “No longer will you fall in battle, my sweet boys.”

And then he gathered their little skulls and the mystical Orb, and returned home to bury the boys alone.


End file.
